WASHINGTON – Democratic politicians have found religion and that may help explain why they are suddenly more popular among churchgoing Americans.

As they push to win control of the U.S. Congress in Tuesday’s elections from Republicans, who have long enjoyed support among conservative religious voters, more and more Democrats have shed a reluctance to talk about their faith.

“What we’re doing is paying real dividends in the faith community,” said Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, who heads the House of Representatives Democratic Faith Working Group, an outreach effort by lawmakers to ministers from the left and right.

“We’re framing issues in religious terms and getting our members to be comfortable with it,” said Clyburn, the son of a fundamentalist minister.

His and other similar groups were formed after the 2004 elections when the religious right was a major force behind President George W. Bush re-election and the Republicans keeping control of Congress.

Bush was perceived as a man of faith after he called Jesus Christ his favorite philosopher during the 2000 White House campaign. Republicans have been seen by some as representing “family values,” mainly because of their opposition to abortion and gay marriage and support for school prayer.

Until recently, Democrats have been reluctant to mention religion, but that has begun to change with some now even quoting scripture.

For Catholics, the defense of human life and dignity is not a narrow cause, but a way of life. A recent Vatican statement reminds us that a well-formed Christian conscience does not permit voting for a political program or law that contradicts fundamental principles of our faith. It also reminds us that we should not isolate a particular element of Catholic doctrine. A political commitment to a single isolated aspect of the Churchâ€™s social doctrine does not exhaust our responsibility towards the common good.

The “single isolated aspect” NCRLC doesn’t like, of course, is the Church’s intractable opposition to abortion. NCRLC’s misinterpretation of the Church’s crystal clear position is that a candidate can be acceptable if they’re OK with abortion as long as they have correct views on matters of social justice.

They are, objectively in the terms of the Catholic faith, wrong. These two statements succinctly describe what is right, and correct:

Since its beginnings, Christianity has viewed abortion as an abhorrent crime against God and man.

….. Our first duty concerning conscience is to form it according to the moral law, and especially for a Catholic, no doubt can exist regarding the objective evil of abortion.

Practicing and faithful Catholics cannot support a pro-abort candidate without committing a grave sin. You may not like me saying that. Fine — Nobody has to remain a Catholic. Such people should find a religion, perhaps the Episcopalian strain Vic Wulsin claims adherence to, that will accommodate killing pre-born children. The Catholic Church never will.

Vic Wulsin supports abortion rights, perhaps even up to and includng partial-birth aborton. How do I know? By the company she keeps:

NARAL Pro-Choice America would not have endorsed Wulsin (as they have) without her support of virtually unrestricted abortion rights.

Finally, Emily’s List would not have endorsed Wulsin (as they have), nor would it, along with its affiliates, be funding the lion’s share of Wulsin’s final week push, without her support of virtually unrestricted abortion rights.

You may not know that these organizations have endorsed Wulsin, because the candidate apparently is too ashamed of her supporters to tell us about them on her otherwise very busy endorsements page. This is the fundamentally dishonest tactic of a candidate who, if she were ever elected, cannot ever be relied on to level with her constituents.

As long as Wulsin remains radically proabort, her religious pose is a sham.

Next, the Democratic Party.

The reactionary formation of reigious advocacy groups that “so happen” to hold positions consistent with those of the Democratic Party is the total opposite of how the Religious Right came to be. The Religious Right had positions it believed in (and still believes in), and sought out politicians who either agreed with them or could be persuaded. The leftist religious groups were formed when the Democrats sought out people sympathetic to them.

It shows. When the Religious Right is unhappy with someone they thought was on their side, they don’t hesitate to say so. When is the last time you ever heard a liberal clergyman criticize a Democrat in public? They can’t, and won’t, because they’re just another wholly-owned subsidiary of the party. They will remain viable, and visible, only as long as the Democratic party feels the need for human clerical shields to cover up their fundamental hostilty towards people of faith. They have no real clout except for presenting nice appearances, and I would not be surprised if Democrats and their 527 Media allies stop paying attention them on November 8 at about noon.

Here is the text of his e-mail, which I am posting with his permission:

I am writing today because I noticed this morning the posts on various blogs about something that BSB (Buckeye State Blog — Ed.) and Plunderbund had been writing about concerning infiltration of a Republican gotv effort. I was mainly concerned because my name, my business partner’s name and other people have been dragged into this mess. I have spoken with Russell Hughlock at BSB and he assured me it is a hoax designed to make people worry and not focus on their events in the final 24 hours before election day.

I want to state completely that I did not have any knowledge of this hoax or anything having to do with it until this morning when I called and demanded answers from Russell Hughlock at BSB. This was in response to the Free Republic comments section which took the time to publish my home address and telephone numbers as well as personal information belonging to myself and my business partner and our clients.

As to Buckeye State Blog being hosted at a hosting service that I own (we were doing websites for a time and it was just easier to have your own server than deal with a reseller) that situation will be rectified as soon as possible.

I hope that you will be able to correct any information that you are covering on your blog. If you have any questions, please email me and I will answer them to the best of my ability.

Thanks,
Ryan Fissel

Ryan made it clear how unhappy he was with BSB’s conduct, and that (possibly paraphrasing) “this isn’t how we do things.”

He also noted that his partner has been in heated discussions with BSB, which are apparently ongoing and less-than-totally pleasant, over promptly owning up to the hoax.

I think the takeaway from this is that while the other party certainly has more than its fair share of honorable people (it’s too easy to forget that), there is an unfortunate undercurrent of childish and vandal-like behavior that can’t be ignored.

BSB and Plunderbund are considered to be among the leading lights of the left side of Ohio’s blogosphere; they aren’t just some cranks on a lark. Given that, I don’t think it’s out of line to suggest that the children and vandals have at least a slightly better chance to influence what goes on in this state for the next four years, and in the Senate for the next six, if the other party’s candidates win on Tuesday.

Suggesting that you take what has happened with the apparently mythical “Operation Infiltration” into account when you enter the voting booth tomorrow does not seem out of line.

Welcome Wizbang Politics (11:30 a.m. — AND Michelle Malkin) readers! Check FreeRepublic (forum home, current post) throughout today for the latest updates. At last check, links to the Ohio Democratic Party appear possible. It appears to have been a hoax; party involvement in the hoax doesn’t appear to be evident.
________________________________________

(A) No person, during the course of any campaign for nomination or election to public office or office of a political party, shall knowingly and with intent to affect the outcome of such campaign do any of the following:

(1) Serve, or place another person to serve, as an agent or employee in the election campaign organization of a candidate for the purpose of acting to impede the conduct of the candidate’s campaign for nomination or election or of reporting information to the employee’s employer or the agent’s principal without the knowledge of the candidate or the candidate’s organization;

V) Whoever violates section 3517.21 or 3517.22 of the Revised Code shall be imprisoned for not more than six months or fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.

The difference between infiltrating a campaign and infiltrating a GOTV effort would appear from here to be a distinction without a difference.

________________________________________

NOTE: I would not rule out the possibility of a big misdirection here, if only because the effort appears so clumsy that it almost seems designed to have been detected (or are they that nonchalant about what they’re doing? — But see first update below.).

________________________________________

UPDATE:This BSB entry(“Well we said bloggers had something cooking for GOTV. Joseph will let you in on it. We did a trial run in 3 counties last week.”) from the wee hours of Fri. Nov. 3 (HT Adler at Volokh) would indicate a degree of seriousness. The reference to “Joseph” goes to the above Plunderbund link.

UPDATE 2: I won’t share the details, but an SOB Alliance member involved in GOTV says that, at least where he is, there is significant screening of GOTV folks taking place.

Operation Infiltration update
Submitted by staff on Mon, 11/06/2006 – 10:28am.
It seems Operation Infiltration has our right wing friends in a bit of a tizz.

You’ll need waders if you hit the links.

ps. To the doofus’s in freeperland – Chromahost is just my host, I’m sure they host lots of people. I wish our vast left wing conspiracy was that big, but sadly, not quite yet.

pps. Hard to believe, but there is more than one Russell in the world.

Â» 3 comments | email this story

A commenter at BSB suggests that it might be “psyops.” If it is, it will backfire if it works out to be yet another GOP turnout motivator thrown onto the already big pile.

POTENTIALLY MAJOR UPDATE:

I have received an e-mail that would support the idea that this was a “clever hoax” (if so, someone should send flowers to the hoaxsters for further firing up an already motivated base). I am attempting to verify the e-mail’s authenticity. Someone else contacted by that person may publish it sooner; I won’t until I’m confident of its source. If so I will link over to anyone who posts (but with appropriate caveats, if necessary). DONE — GO HERE.

CLEVELAND — 5 On Your Side Investigator Duane Pohlman finds that there are several votes being cast by citizens who are dead.

Among thousands of graves at Holy Cross Cemetery, Pohlman found the final resting place of Edward Wisniewski.

John Wisniewski lived next door to his brother for decades.

John Wisniewski said Edward Wisniewski has been buried at the cemetery since 2002. According to an election sign-in sheet, he cast a vote in the May primary.

NewsChannel5, in partnership with the National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting, conducted one of the most extensive reviews ever of Cuyahoga County voting records, Pohlman reported. The process involved comparing more than 200,000 voters against death records reported by the Social Security Administration.

….. Pohlman reported the examination of the records revealed Wisniewski is not the only dead voter. In fact, 5 On Your Side uncovered 27 people who are dead, but votes were cast in their name anyway.

This is referred to as ghost voting — people who vote for someone else.

Pohlman uncovered another example of ghost voting with Helen Kran. According to the Social Security Administration, she died in March 2005.

More than a year later, Kran voted in the May 2 primary.

“Yeah, it appears the individual that filled out their registration card and what they filled out on election day are not the same person,” said Michael Vu, director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

Pohlman reported other signatures, like Charles R. Morris, look identical to a signature on May 2 election documents.

Morris died 11 months before the primary.

Pohlman reported the most concerning case is Wisniewski.

It is considered a felony …..

Pohlman said ghost voting is large enough of a problem to sway the results of a close race and certainly undercuts the principal that every vote counts.

“That’s an assault on the integrity on the electoral process,” (Congressman Dennis) Kucinich said.

There wasn’t even that much to get excited about in May, and the TV station found 27 bogus votes. Imagine what “the ghosts” have planned for this election.

Need I remind anyone which party has controlled Cuyahoga County for decades?

And do you really want to argue that the Voter ID law was not a good idea?

____________________

UPDATE: Last week, whiners got Ohio’ ID requirement for early votes suspended. Wouldn’t want to have those fraudulent early votes detected now, would we?

Christopher Monckton in the Sunday UK Telegraph skewers the Stern Report, which takes “global warming” as a given and (natch) prescribes massive taxes and economic adjustments to deal with the so-called threat:

Climate chaos? Don’t believe it

Last week, Gordon Brown and his chief economist both said global warming was the worst “market failure” ever. That loaded soundbite suggests that the “climate-change” scare is less about saving the planet than, in Jacques Chirac’s chilling phrase, “creating world government”.

But for those who care about reforming the Supreme Court, sitting this one out may soon look like a mistake of historic proportions.

For the past several weeks, there has been a rumor circulating among high-level officials in Washington, D.C., that a member of the U.S. Supreme Court has received grave medical news and will announce his or her retirement by yearâ€™s end. While such rumors are not unusual in the nationâ€™s capital, this one comes from credible sources. Additionally, a less credible but still noteworthy post last week at the liberal Democratic Underground blog says, â€œSend your good vibes to Justice Stevens. I just got off the phone with a friend of his family and right now he is very ill and at 86 years old that is not good.â€

Normally, this news might be too ghoulish to repeat publicly. Nevertheless, with the election just days away, it is news that should be considered. It points out what could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for the 20-year movement to recast the court with a constitutionalist majority. It would be a cruel twist indeed for conservatives to â€œteach Republicans a lessonâ€ next Tuesday, only to be taught a lesson themselves within months when new Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) leads a Democratic majority against the most important Supreme Court nominee in decades. Conservatives whose mantra is â€œno more Soutersâ€ should bear in mind Robert Borkâ€™s fate after the Senate changed from Republican to Democratic hands in 1986.

Goodness knows that after an initial flurry (God bless Janice Rogers Brown), the GOP has been disappointing on confirming judges below the Supreme Court level. But the alternative? Yikes.

______________________________

UPDATE: Lots more motivation, from the same Human Events link –

(New York Sen. Charles) Schumer is reported to have assured Democrats that Bob Casey Jr. — despite running as a moderate Senate candidate — would be supportive of Democratic efforts to block constitutionalist judicial nominees. â€œThereâ€™s no worry on judges,â€ said Schumer. â€œAnd judges is the whole ball of wax.â€ Other supposedly centrist Democratic candidates including Harold Ford Jr. (Tenn.), Jon Tester (Mont.) and Jim Webb (Va.) have refused to rule out filibusters against judicial nominees.

By now, one hopes that Ohio voters know for an absolute fact that a Senator Sherrod Brown would filibuster like it’s 2003.

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) – Laura Durham of Belvidere, Ill., is thrilled to have her high school class ring back more than 20 years after she lost it and several other rings in a car crash.

She got it back recently thanks to the efforts of workers at D&S Manufacturing, a metal products and equipment company in Black River Falls.

“I can’t describe the feeling of getting the rings back,” Durham said in an e-mail to the Leader-Telegram newspaper of Eau Claire. “I know that they were only worth something to me, but to me, it was like turning back the hands of time.”

Durham, who was then 17 and named Laura Pyrcioch, had taken off the class ring and five others, secured them to a watch band and put them in her car, which she drove as she headed to work at an Illinois horse farm in July 1984.

The car left the road, rolled over several times, and she fractured her skull, collarbone and pelvis.

Bob Windsor, who now is a welder at D&S Manufacturing, worked at the salvage yard in South Beloit, Ill., where her car was taken and found the rings while cleaning out the vehicle.

He added them to his coin collection. His mother encouraged him to try to find the owner, but he said he didn’t get around to it until a co-worker helped.

That took place after Windsor stopped to see a man in August who was in Black River Falls to buy gold and silver.

He did not want to leave his coin collection in the car while he worked the second shift, so he asked Sherrie Hein, the company human resources manager, if he could keep it in her office.

Windsor showed her his collection, and the class ring caught her eye. It had Durham’s maiden name engraved inside, along with the name of Mather High School in Chicago and the fact that she had graduated in 1984.

“I asked him if I could help (him find the ring’s owner), and he agreed,” she said in an e-mail to the Leader-Telegram. “Puzzles intrigue me, and I love to help people.”

Hein, with help from her 14-year-old, Internet-savvy daughter Laura, came up with the name of a possible owner and the names of two others who might have known her through an Internet search. Hein sent letters to all three.

Durham responded. Hein asked Durham to provide the name of her high school, the year she graduated and the color of the stone in her class ring. She later called Windsor and told him she had found the ring’s owner and that Durham had described three other rings she had lost. They then mailed the rings to Durham.

Hein said finding the owner of the class ring was a challenge that she couldn’t resist.

“I just kept thinking that there was someone out there who might be missing that ring,” she said. “It turned out I was right.

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